Custom Bachelor Pads

Why Small Bachelor Pads Are Cool Again

A moveable bookshelf also makes a great room divider. If you’re in an open-concept condo, as many are, a double-sided, open-back shelf, like this 3.14 bookcase from CB2 or the classic Ikea Expedit, will allow you to subtly break up the room without losing any sense of space.

Even if you’re not a book guy, it’s important to have some in your home. I know many women who, when visiting a man’s home for the first time, go straight for the books as a measure of the man. For those with fewer books to shelve, try the Umbra Conceal floating shelf, a simple wall-mounted bracket that lets a hardcover book be the base of a short floating stack. The Umbra Conceal can be affixed anywhere: in the kitchen for cookbooks, by the bed for nighttime reading, by your desk for work.

The movie guy

What if the most important media to you is on-screen? Pretty much regardless of who you are, a flatscreen TV is a basic requirement. Forget a clunky media center — they’re a relic of a bygone era. Wall-mounting your TV will free up unnecessary space that a cabinet would take and will make it so that the TV isn’t at the center of the room. With streaming devices like the Roku 3 or Apple TV, all you need to deliver the best selection of media from streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO GO, Spotify and MLB.TV is less than one square foot of space and some wires. The Roku 3 is as small as it comes, the size of a hockey puck, and offers impressive access, from Hulu Plus’ entire Criterion Collection to the X-Files archive on Netflix or live baseball on MLB.

Another incredible new technology for the micro-home theater is LG’s new “Hecto” Laser TV projector. It’s capable of creating a 100-inch 1080p screen from just 22 inches away and it’s practically invisible when off. The Hecto is even more discreet and luxurious than a wall-mounted TV.

Your home theater deserves a good sound system. Soundbars, like the Sonos HiFi Playbar, are a great option for smaller spaces. The Sonos HiFi uses nine amplified speakers, which will sound like surround, but the bar is both tiny and easy to move around. If a single bar is not enough, an in-wall or in-ceiling speaker set may give you the abundance you want without compromising space. Best Buy has options if you feel like setting something up yourself or hiring a member of their Geek Squad to help you. The experts at the independent, New York-based sound tank In Living Stereo can also advise you. They specialize in beautiful, handcrafted wood cabinet speakers. Art objects in their own right, the speakers emit a warm analog sound. The most important thing to consider when installing a home sound system — whether it’s freestanding wood cabinet speakers or a small soundbar — is that you integrate. You want the same speakers to be set up to play from your television and any audio-only equipment you may have.

The wine guy

Men who care about wine, we haven’t forgotten you. The Kartell Infinity bottle holder comes in small pieces that snap together to accommodate any space. At Y Living, an online catalog of modern furniture and accessories from formidable designers such as Knoll, Herman Miller, Blu Dot and Gus Modern, you can browse from a number of space-saving wine racks, while Genuwine Cellars, a leader in custom wine cellar construction, makes two kit rack options for small and DIY spaces.

The bike guy

What about your bike? Here’s Knife & Saw’s Original Bike Rack, designed by graphic designer Chris Brigham to fill the void he perceived in elegant bike management. His bike rack is both shelf and rack, and it’s beautiful.

Public’s Michelangelo Gravity Stand will fit two bikes where one would otherwise be, working, as always with a small apartment, with the height of the wall.

The options are there once you decide what your priorities are, and that’s the most important part — isolating the musts in your life. If you rarely entertain, skip the dining room table. If you have a concise wardrobe, have a concise closet. Free up that space for something that means more to you.